I sent the following e-mail to Dr. Phil today. I sent a similar one to Oprah probably a year ago and never heard back. We’ll see what happens …

Dr. Phil, Why is it that the bill to pass the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act (H.R. 846 and S. 450) is still languishing in Congress 3 YEARS after it was introduced? Why is it that the nearly 400,000 new mothers who suffer each year often find there are no support groups and weak understanding by many doctors as to the best way to treat it? Why is it that OB/GYNs in every single state in America aren’t required to ask new mothers a series of questions at their six-week check-up to look for signs of postpartum depression, postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder and postpartum psychosis?

We’ve GOT to get more coverage of the seriousness of this illness, both for the women who go through it (as I did) and for all the children who deserve mentally healthy mothers. I’ve tried my best – an essay of my experience appeared in the June 7 issue of Newsweek this year, and I’ve started a blog called Postpartum Progress that is written from the perspective of mothers going through it. Other people are also trying their best, like Carol Blocker, who worked tirelessly to get the Blocker-Stokes bill introduced after her daughter killed herself during postpartum psychosis. There are countless individuals who know how devastating this illness is and who are trying to do their part, but our power is not being harnessed to make a difference in more women’s lives. We can’t continue to let this go on and on. Please, please do a show on the subject — while so many others with a public voice simply to choose to cover the sensational side of this issue — whenever a sufferer kills either herself or her child — what we really need is to get down to brass tacks about what needs to be done to get women the proper treatment as soon as possible.